Remembering George Shangrow: A Musical Force

By all accounts, Seattle enjoys a rich classical music scene for any urban area remotely our size. We owe an important measure of that success to George Shangow, whose life was brought to a tragic end this past weekend in a fatal automobile accident when he was on his way to give a lecture at the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival.

Mr. Shangrow was probably best known for his “Live, by George” program on Classical KING-FM 98.1 featuring live classical performances. He was not yet 20 when he founded the Seattle Chamber Music Singers. Ten years later, he founded Orchestra Seattle. These organizations later merged and continue to tap the talents of scores of area musicians and delight thousands of audience members each year.

His musical talents were legion. He was pianist and harpsichordist, teacher and lecturer (in everything from music history to composition) and noted conductor with such orchestras as Seattle Symphony, Northwest Chamber Orchestra and Sapporo (Japan) Symphony. He reveled in bringing new works to audiences and conducted many premieres.

With his death at just 59, we are robbed of what should have been many more years of passionate involvement in this community, but the extraordinary contributions he made over the past four decades will continue to enrich all our lives far into the future.